If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

Expected more

An absolute waste of money

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

Firstly .. this is torture porn! Its not revernge horror/gore, its about the torture..Now, the movie itself has its ups and downs .. more downs though. The main story is simple .. but obscured by a totally unnecessary sideplot and relationship drama that adds little to nothing.With that said, in my opinion .. this movie could have benefitted TREMENDOULY from removing this sideplot entirely .. and cutting runtime to a brief 1 hour .. cause i venture to say that the "joy" of the movie comes from the mainplot alone and not some overcoming of an abusive relationship.So .. the main plot; taking revenge on students that .. by all means .. seem to "deserve it" .. students with no redeeming quality. So far, so good. The problem i had with this movie is that the teacher just wasnt a very good teacher. (speaking from the perspective of being a teacher myself) He certainly came across as idealistic and enthusiastic .. but not a good teacher. The students on the other hand came across as just a bit "too rude" .. considering the portrait demographic, such behaviour is VERY hard to imagine .. (although i am not familiar with the english demographic that well, but when i compare it to the nordic education, such student behaviour is simply in the realm of fantasy)There was a lot of blood .. but not that much gore as most scenes that would "show" gore tended to obscure the actual wounding. So you are left with the acting (not too bad). Actually, i liked the performance of all the main cast .. although not too demanding, i would think .. it was still well done.I cannot quite recommend this movie, because of the utterly boring sideplot that creates long periods of boredom in the movie .. and the rather unsatisfactory ending.

This movie knows what it wants to be! The camera is excellent, glamorous wide-shots juxtaposed with gray small-town rut, and personal small hand-cam shots. Muted colors of violence, boredom and frustration versus literal enlightenment through physical torture. The cast is really solid, the movie educates us with it's own story. The music keeps and/or juxtaposes the scenes perfectly. The writer/director Ruth Plath is clearly someone to look out for in the future. The expertly composed pictures, the story of the story of modern society and it's relation to literature, the wonderful maelstrom of violence... Reminds me a bit of Nicolas Winding Refn's work. On a more metaphysical level then a really comparable one. I could go on and on and on.9/10 because like 3 scenes didn't work that well in my opinion. But that's just nitpicking.WATCH THIS MOVIE! It's really good.

When the students frustrate the teacher too much, what will the teacher do? Perhaps those students need a lesson - a real lesson that they will never forget in their lifetime.The teacher makes sure that the students pay full attention this time, no matter what it takes. He has all the tools for the job - nails, hammers, pliers, knives, duct tape and a brand new nail gun. And so follows a night of horror, torture and screams. But he will not stop until they learn the lesson by heart.If you have loved Panic Room (2002), Shuttle (2009) and Saw (2004), then you will enjoy this movie too.

The first feature film written and directed by Ruth Platt; The Lesson, has been described as an; '..astonishingly bravura art-house horror..'*. In addition Platt's film is; 'A dark claustrophobic and bloody coming of age love story..'*. Although I don't disagree with either of these comments, I consider that Platt achieves far more than just the sum of these two observations.The Lesson takes place in an area which reminded me of a new town, or city suburb. The school children depicted aren't from the gutter; they're from a reasonable neighbourhood with neat houses, where public parks have long sweeping pathways and their school uniforms appear clean, tidy and pressed. In perceiving how this neat urban area would function, the viewer can be forgiven for expecting caring family units to reside there. Yet, the suburb is revealed as soulless; empty of love and affection, bland and unstimulating to the youth that reside there. Somehow, this is an almost subliminal message held close to the films core. The emptiness of the streets and the park we see the youngsters in, gradually seeps into the viewer's subconscious. I felt this message led the viewer to a certain level of understanding, concerning the teenager's behaviour towards authoritative figures. An important perspective perhaps, for a film that can be described as morally ambiguous.After a slow start, which does serve to impress upon the viewer aspects of how the youngsters, at the centre of the films narrative, live and are cared for, attention is switched to an incident at the school they attend. After the teenagers disrespect one of their teachers, The Lesson switches tone and presents the viewer with a tale of repercussive revenge, whereby a very harsh lesson is taught. The scene presented here is no holds barred, violent and will be regarded by some as torture porn. Certain aspects are deliberately stylised, for example the way blood is displayed upon the neck of Fin's friend Joel (Rory Coltart). However, what I found interesting was how this tale of soullessness and revenge, resulted in epiphany and redemption. Also, although the 'lesson' section is, at times, hard to watch, the empty realism of life in the suburbs, also at school, juxtaposes nicely with the painful awakening to the vastness of intellectual information contained within the lesson the boys are subjected to.Dialogue in The Lesson is well written and confidently handled by all members of the cast. Robert Hands excels at imparting the 'lesson' and his performance, as a teacher who is pushed over the edge, is believable. Other performances of note are that of Fin (Evan Bendall) who manages to portray how isolated and self-involved the world of a teenager can be; also Michaela Prchalova. Her carefully judged portrayal of care and attraction is well realised. As director Ruth Platt is no stranger to acting and being filmed by a camera, I have no doubt her own experiences assisted in getting terrific performances out of her young cast, all of whom are newcomers to film acting.The black and white scenes which recall Fin's memories of time spent with his mother and father are nicely edited into the brightness of day. The obvious dichotomy between light and dark are used to illustrate irresponsibility and the manner in which Fin is almost sleepwalking through life, against the horror and awakening which occurs when his teacher takes control.As The Lesson unfolded, I became aware that, rather than containing social commentary about the difficulties faced by teachers in a particular classroom environment, the films integral message concerns the absence of love and security in the home; the lack of a parental figurehead and the repercussions such a lack could enable. Consequently, there is a real sense of cause and effect generated by events in Fin's life during the course of the film. Arguably, the primary cause of his dislocation, from intellectual discourse and personal responsibility, is the sense of being unloved.If social commentary in horror films is of interest to you, The Lesson is a must see. If you enjoy a taut coming of age drama and like horror films where the camera doesn't always turn away, you'll enjoy this. Personally, I found The Lesson to be a powerful, well-acted and tautly directed film, where social commentary was the icing on the cake. But, be prepared for moral ambiguity, as this appears to be a sizeable portion of the cake on offer.* Both comments taken from the Frightfest Festival guide 2015